Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Book Review: Mango Chutney

Source: www.amazon.in

Anthology was not a word that
made it to my most used word list earlier. Other than the Chicken Soup for the
Soul series, there weren't many that caught my eye either. But in the recent
few months, especially since I took to Writing, if there has been one thing
that I have been crossing paths with, it has been Anthologies. There are too
many of them mushrooming all over; wherever I look there is an Anthology
staring back at me; they all seemed the same, not really making me sit up but
that was until Mango Chutney came along.

I stopped and gave it a second
look. Not only because I had the privilege of knowing a few of the Authors who
had contributed to it but because of the fine way in which they had marketed
its launch; it had been a lot more enticing and teased the reader into laying their hands on the first copy that was made available. I did just that; so
did many others confirming how successful the promotions and campaigns were.

Given the marketing that was done
and the teasers that had tormented the reader in me, my expectations were high
from this Chutney which proclaimed itself to be an Anthology of tasteful short fiction. It did taste good in bits and pieces but it also had moments that
left a sour taste in the mouth.

The Chutney has many ingredients
ranging from Romance, Friendship, Birthdays and Sweets to Deceit, Hypocrisy, the
Partition, Horror and even Sci Fi and cooking an egg thrown in for good measure. An array of diverse fiction; there were a few stories that stood out
for me purely for the tight narration and the ability of the Author to convey
what they wanted to, with the right amount of emphasis on both the language as
well as the emotion in the tale.

The 37th Milestone
by Abhishek Asthana – Writing a Horror story and being able to make a
shiver run down the Readers spine is no mean task to achieve. Abhishek does it
well with this story especially with the suspense he builds and does not let go
off till the very end.

Tainted Red by Aathira Jim –
Having been a regular reader of Aathira’s blog, I found this story to be
immensely different from her usual style. She did a wonderful job in evoking
the emotions and intensity of what her protagonist feels and goes through in a
distant land. The depth she gave to her protagonist’s character stayed with me
even after I had moved on to the next piece in the series.

The Birthday Boy by Harsha
Pattnaik – This piece stood out not only for its narration but also for the
fact that it oozed out of the pen of a fourteen year old. I doubt many of us
could have written as well as Harsha has at this age. This girl will surely go
places.

Someone with Character by Alka
Gurha – A simple story but one that holds true even today in India. Having
come across similar characters I could relate to Alka’s narrative all the more.
Despite the issue she brings out in this tale being an age old one, her
narration and flow of the story tugged at the heart for me.

Prem Ki Chashni by Sudhanshu
Shekhar Pathak – A very sweet story told with a tightly held narration
despite it being a translation from Hindi to English, this story made me smile
all throughout. The credit for the effective translation must go to Harsh
Sudhanshu as well.

There were a few others which I
enjoyed reading; especially Angels and Demons by Purba Ray, The Perfectly
Poached Egg by Ramya Maddali, The Girl Who Owned Castles by Giribala Joshi, Vaman by Rohit Gore and
On the Other Side by Sakshi Nanda. However if not for giving me a “this is
already tried and tested” or "could there have been more to it?" feeling, some of them left me wanting for more
emotion rather than just words from the tales. What did stand out for me among
these was the narration style that Purba Ray adopted; it was entirely different
from the styles the remaining twenty six had used in this Anthology and would
have worked really well if it had been more tightly coupled and descriptive.

These were the moments I truly enjoyed in this
book but unfortunately there were times when I felt let down.

Some of the stories that I came
across left me wondering not only about the narration but about the stories themselves thus not really making the cut for me. While all were structured in a
similar format, I was taken aback by a Moral being added to one of them, it
made me look back and forth wondering if all of the twenty seven were meant to
have them; somehow it stood out like a sore thumb.

From an editing standpoint, I
wish some more effort was put in avoiding simple typographical errors, while I
tried ignoring them, they were proving to be quite a hindrance at some places,
sometimes even threatening to take away the essence from the stories. Some of
the metaphors used across the book also seemed forced and did not relate
to the point being made, making me wonder if the story would have been more
emphatic with their absence.

Having said that; Mango Chutney is a wonderful platform that brought out talent which otherwise might have taken
longer to be discovered. A onetime read, I would recommend this book to those
who wish to read tales based in India and want to experience the potential of
the Indian Author of tomorrow coming to the surface.

Darn...you were much more honest that I was :) Jokes aside, lovely review Seeta. People could definitely take a leaf or two out of your book of reviewing. Honest yet not condescending. Perfect mix. Cheers,

Thanks, now that is a compliment! Got two of the best things said to the Reviewer in me today. Yippiee :)Well, I see no point in reviewing a book if I do not call out what did not work for me. At the same time I do not see any value in condescending anyone for it, tomorrow I might be in the same boat no? :P

Thanks so much for the review, Seeta! You have made my day :) I do agree with the others, your reviews are honest and straight from your heart. There's no sugarcoating whatsoever. But at the same time, they let the readers know what can be expected from the book.

Loved that line about emotion - what I have always said 'The main difference between good fiction and good non-fiction is that the former should make people feel while the latter should make people think.'

I agree, there were some stories in this Anthology which could have tugged a few strings for me, made me even shed a tear maybe. had it not been for the lack of emotion.. the language told me that it was meant to be packed with emotion but unfortunately I could not feel any of it.

This is the second review in two days and has piqued my curiosity further ! I agree with you, the stories that I always remember are the ones with the right amount of emotions sprinkled in a well written plot. Great Review Seeta, specially since anthologies with their diverse genres are so difficult to review !

balle balle wowow the book has some stories from a few of the bloggers who i really admire and know too Alka mam, purba mam and Sakshi (I wont say mam as she has banned me from saying that ) :)

thank you for the lovely review :) I do need to buy this one and i like a book which has little stories , my patience runs out pretty fast so i cant read a whole book at one go .. this fits in nicely read a story a day :)

Sita, quite an honest review here. Seeing this book flashed in my newsfeed quite often, I was wondering whether to pick it up or not as I avoid reading books by bloggers! But your review piques my curiosity and perhaps I will try this out.

This review was quite a balanced one which gave equal importance to the pros and cons and dissecting the work for the reader to perceive whether to read this or not. Thanks.

I have been hearing the honesty bit quite a lot and frankly I appreciate it. All I tried to do was pen down my reaction to the book but at the end of the day to each his own. What I found to be the not so good elements might be someone else's favourites... so I think you should give it a go :)

More than wanting to know about the book, it is your review that is delightful to read that makes me look forward to them. You are the best reviewer I have come across so far sita. Have you tried having your books reviews published in print?

A really well balanced review. With so many known bloggers in the book, I guess I have to pick this book sometime anyways and form my own opinion which would most likely match with yours going by how you have qualified everything you have expressed.